Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

When I was getting pictures of Badcock a week or so ago, I noticed that this little Cricket storefront in the same plaza was closed. Google reviews suggest it was probably this summer as there is an owner response from "a month ago".

Well, we are one step closer to doing away with physical media as Redbox comes to an end.

If you had movies on the Redbox app, well, you probably don't...

As of tonight the unit at the Beltline & Forest Walgreens is up and running, but the movies don't look to have been updated in over a month.

While I was in Florence recently, I decided to get off at I-95 Exit 157 to check out the old Young's Plantation Inn which I had done a closing for and which had been reported as torn down (it was). While I was there I noticed that the motel almost across US-76 from the old Young's site was apparently closed as well. This was the The Tree Top Inn. As you can see from the link, their website is still up, but there were clearly no customers, and the place is now behind a closed fence. The most recent google reviews are from about a year ago, so I will go with 2023 for a closing date.

Actually Exit 157 seems to be hard on motels lately as I noticed another had been razed (before Young's) and a third was clearly also closed. I may do closings on those eventually as I did get some pictures.

Here's the Saint Andrews Road location of Badcock. As we have seen several times recently, the chain is bankrupt and closing all stores.

St. Andrews Shopping Center lost another anchore back in 2013 and came through it OK. We'll have to see what happens this time.

Commenter Heath notes that JC's Lexington Bowl has announced on their Facebook page that they are closing at the end of August. From the posted message, it sounds like they would rather not, but the economic times are just too rough. That's a shame, as they have been open since 1989.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

As we discussed a few days ago the Badcock chain is going out of business after a bad merger and bankruptcy. This is the Lexington location in Town Square.

I'm not sure of the actual closing date, but I don't see it outlasting the month, at least by much.

I'm not sure when Kyle closed, but the last google reviews are from "a year ago", and obviously the building itself has been vacant long enough to go downhill, so I will put the date as Summer 2023.

I don't smoke or vape, so I don't know a lot about the place, but interestingly, it is apparently a chain with other locations largely, though not entirely, in Florida.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Commenter Tom mentioned that this hotel on Bush River Road at I-26 behind Cracker Barrel had a blank nameplate on the Market Pointe marquee. He thought it had been a Travelodge, and that looks correct, but that was some years ago. Most recently it was a Quality Inn & Suites. I can see from Google Streetview that that lasted at least into June 2023, so I'm guessing the latest reflagging was this year, and the place is now operating as Suburban Studios.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

This was apparently also known as Best Western Plus Columbia Northeast and the rather generic Columbia Northeast Hotel, so perhaps it lost the Best Western branding in the last months of its life. Google streetview shows the place looking open, and with Best Western signage into May of 2024, but as of the end of June, when these pictures were taken, the place was closed with indications of some sort of work going on. (The Google reviews suggest it really needed some.)

I have not driven past since then, so perhaps it is open again or at least has some indication as to what is to come now -- I will have to check it out again soon.

Bennigan's never came to Columbia, but were pretty big elsewhere in the 1980s. I remember that when I was living in Fayetteville, it was a standard place to unwind when the out-of-town crew was visiting to help us set up for field exercises. After that the chain kind of lost its way, and ended up going bankrupt in 2008 which drastically reduced the number of locations.

Nonetheless, things survive & thrive in Florida when they don't elsewhere, and this Melbourne location, on US-192 just East of I-95 opened on 28 January 2016. I always meant to drop in and see if it was as I remembered, but always had some place I would rather eat with my limited time in the area. However this guy did and was a bit underwhelmed.

At any rate the place gave up the ghost in February of 2023, and is now a Mexican eatery, Agave D'Oro. I'm pretty sure I have a picture of it in operation somewhere, and if I find it I'll add it up top.